venezuela's vice president says hugo chavez will be able to begin his next temple as president on thursday even if he's too ill to attend the swearing-in ceremonies. and centers for disease control says the flu outbreak in the united states has started early. it's widespread reaching 41 states and causing the deaths of 18 children. lessons from the cliff. this week, the president signed the american tax relief act which restores clinton era rates, extends unemployment insurance for a year and postpones massive budget cuts for two months setting up yet another countdown for yet another induced crisis. here i think are the big lessons from the latest budgetary standoff between the white house and congressional republicans. lesson number one, the so-called fiscal cliff was not a cliff. we intentionally avoided the phrase here fiscal cliff on "up with chris hayes" because it gave the definition for what it meant for a policy. you can't be a little off a cliff or kind of off. you're definitely off. the idea embedded in the metaphor if the president and congress didn't come to an agreement betwe